Every time we take our 7 1/2 month old gsd for a walk, an off-lead dog charges her. No one obeys the leash law here in the city. So, since there are way too many off lead dogs in our neighborhood, and our dog is starting to get aggressive, all the trainers suggest to walk her at off-peek times. We have been walking her at dusk and dawn and there is no soul out. Nice, peaceful. quiet walks now. She does great. Heels to a T. Last night, my husband noticed a 200 pound Rottweiler off lead. I walked ahead and politely asked him to grab/leash his dog. I explained to him how my dog is dog-reactive because of the off lead dogs charging her. He grabs his dogs collar and then decides to let it go and said, "Oh, my dog is good. He wont do anything." Next thing you know, the rot ran up to my dog and circled her for a while. My dog froze like she wanted to strike. We yelled at the man, "get your dog off my dog right now!". He kept calling it and it continued to circle my dog. He clapped his hands and yelled at it to come and finally it listened, but almost got hit by a car. Thankfully, no-one got hurt, but what if my dog would have bit this dog from fear and made it bite back resulting in a dog fight?

And every other day (or so) pack up my pup to go somewhere safe for a nice long walk. That way there is no stress for my dog or for me.

I'd also start being EXTREMELY proactive with meeting FRIENDLY dogs that are off leash so your dog will get it's life back to normal. I meet off leash dogs all the time and we do NOT get attacked. Most of the time they are just coming over to be happy and friendly and much of the time they are puppies. I'm like you that I do NOT want my dog to attack and injure a puppy that just got out and is running up to say hey.

So as important as it is to assure you don't meet any 'bad' dogs and have a real fight. I'd be making sure I meet tons of 'good' dogs so my pup starts learning that in the real world most dogs are ok so they can relax and enjoy the world and meeting the dogs in it.

Yes, thats what I am working on. I took her to a puppy play date and a small dog ran up to her at 5he beginning and my dog tried to bite it. The trainer assessed her and said its fear. The trainer introduced her two neutral 7yr old large poodles and for the first time, she played nice for a whole hour. I couldnt believe it!The trainer is going to introduce a different dog every week. Just wish that owner would have respected our wishes. I dont want to see my gsd fighting a 200 pound rot. Its a shame you cant feel safe walking your dog in your own neighborhood.

I had my first encounter with an off leash dog yesterday. I was SO mad!!! I have spent the last 6 weeks working on my dog being reactive to other dogs and then some knucklehead in my neighborhood had his dog off leash in his garage. We had gone on a beautiful early morning walk before the heat set in and were four houses from home. On this walk, we had passed two joggers, a leashed dog, a garage sale, and kids playing and my puppy did great! I was so proud that he had not reacted to any of it. We have made so much progress.

So 4 house away from home, there was a man standing in his garage and he said hi. I said hi back and all of a sudden, his dog that must have been laying in the back of his garage came charging our aggressively at my puppy. He ran in front of my dog barking at him and snarling in his face. My pup started barking and whining and went behind my leg. I always carry pepper spray with me, but honestly I didn't have time to get it out if I had wanted to. The man literally pulled his dog away by his tail. The man didn't even apologize. I said some not so nice things as I continued down our sidewalk. I was shaking I was so mad...and startled. Luckily, my dog kept on going like it was a regular day unphased so I tried to as well.

I walked in the door and told my husband about it. He ordered me a telescopic billy stick to take with me on walks. It can flick open into a stick with a heavy weight in the end and can hopefully keep a stray dog from getting near me or my dog (if not I will hit the other dog with it if I have to). They also make billy sticks with stun guns on the end. I would hate to do that, but I am responsible for protecting me and my dog. I realized yesterday how defenseless I would have been if that dog had bitten or viciously attacked me or my dog. This was a smaller dog, but what would I have done if it was a 150 lb Rottweiler that weighs more than I do?

I also was ticked at how much work may have just went down the toilet with all of the training (time and money) I have spent to train my dog that other dogs are not a threat and that he doesn't need to react to them. Uggghh

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